


Beyond the Sun

by Starboundwanderer



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars, The Force Awakens - Fandom
Genre: But here ya go, F/M, Soulmate AU, canon AU, the fic no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2020-01-13 15:36:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18471886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starboundwanderer/pseuds/Starboundwanderer
Summary: Ben finds peace .  His dreams are filled with a blinding light that drowns out the darkness.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here for the Reylo since 2015, and I'm finally contributing to the fandom. Enjoy!
> 
> (also, any typos are mine!)

Leia worried about her son. She had sensed something dark within from the moment she realized a life grew in her. And he’d always woken up bawling and squalling—she'd thought for a long time he was just a fussy baby, but it continued well past that, and when he could tell her what he saw, she was horrified. 

He spoke of visions of darkness, of whispering, and of one gnarled face staring wordlessly at him. She didn’t know where they came from and wished she could save him from them, but even Luke was at a loss. 

She was used to feeling his distress; it flooded the house and prodded at her senses. But tonight was different. 

There was calm. Cautiously hopeful, she tiptoed from her bedroom to Ben’s. He looked so lovely and peaceful in the soft glow of his lamp, and she was shocked to see a half-smile on his lips. She brushed his dark hair out of his face, and relished in the peace she felt emanating from him. She leaned down and placed a kiss on his forehead. 

Somehow, she knew this the beginning of something good. 

 

Ben knew very little of warmth or contentment. His ten years up to then had been overshadowed by a constant feeling of anxiety and dread, like something bad was always watching him. 

He didn’t know what dreams were—he thought they were like the horrors he was plagued by every night. As he’d grow older, though, he would always recall the night he had a true dream. 

It had started like his usual nightmare: spindly figures in the darkness, voices whispering, screams of terror, and someone telling him to, “Turn away from the Light.” 

Hands grabbed at him, fingernails raked through his hair, and he was pushed to the ground again and again. The floor was dirt and twisted roots, and it cut his palms. He screamed and covered his ears, tears rolling down his cheeks and pressed his forehead to the ground. He was frustrated, scared, and upset by the images and noises, and simply couldn’t handle it all anymore. They got louder and people grabbed at his hands to try and rip them away from his ears. 

And then silence. But more than that, there was an overwhelming feeling of peace. Slowly and shakily, he lifted his head up and let his hands fall to his sides. He was in some kind of forest, and though it had been frightening and the trees had looked menacing before, they now looked like...trees. And it was so quiet. He closed his eyes and felt his shoulders relax. 

He was listening to the sound of his breathing when the silence was suddenly broken by crying. But it wasn’t the normal desperate sobs he heard—this was a baby’s crying. He opened his eyes, and the forest was slowly brightening, as if the sun was rising. The cries were coming from deeper in the woods. 

Ben stood, wiped his tears away, and started following it. The landscape seemed to shift the closer he got. It slowly went from a forest, to a meadow, to a field with towering golden grass. A small shuttle was sitting among the grass, door open. Without thinking, he stepped on. 

There was a set of bunks, a pilot and copilot seat, and dirty clothes strewn about. Beyond that, there wasn’t much else at first glance. But then a pile of blankets on the bottom bunk shifted slightly. Ben stepped forward, eyes wide. 

There was a baby. It was...well, it was a bit ugly, he thought. It was wrinkly and pink and scrunching up its face to cry again. On instinct, he grabbed the baby’s hand. 

“Shh,” he cooed. “It’s okay.” 

The baby opened its eyes. He felt a spark in his chest as the Force hummed around them. He stared at it for a long while, reveling in the calm he suddenly felt. He ran a palm over the baby’s bald head. She hadn’t cried once since he’d been there. 

But eventually, the world started to go blurry around the edges, and he knew it was time to go. 

“I’m waking up,” he told her. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Goodbye, baby.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey meets a strange boy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided Rey needed a POV. As usual, any grammar, spelling, or lore errors are mine and mine alone!

  It was blisteringly hot.  This wasn’t unusual for Jakku, but it was unusual that so many were hiding from the heat in their homes, under tattered tent flaps, and in the rusted remains of the Empire.  Even the seasoned scavengers stayed at home or in the bar today, knowing it wasn’t worth the risk of heatstroke to go into the fallen ships and drag parts across the desert.  Rey was sprawled out on a threadbare blanket in the shade of her AT-AT.  

  She moved every now and then to be out of the sun’s scorch, but other than that remained still, carefully rationing her water and food.  A slight breeze picked up, but she couldn’t really enjoy it because it blew sand in her face—even the rarely good things about Jakku seemed to come with some price to pay, whether it be sand in the face or stolen portions.

  Her bleary gaze was focused on a hole in her AT-AT.  It gave her a jagged view of her few furnishings.  She began to catalog them in her mind.  Flower...doll...blanket...helmet... Then movement got her heart racing.

   A long figure suddenly appeared in her home, and Rey sprang into action.  She grabbed her staff from the sand and charged in.  No one stole from her, and that’s the only reason anyone would be in her home, especially today.  

  The figure was much taller than her, but she immediately swung at the person’s back.  He whipped around and caught it in his hand.  He looked down at her, and his expressions went from anger, to surprise, and finally shock.

  “Who are you, little girl?”

  Rey yanked her staff from his hand.  She glared up at him.  In her ten years, she hadn’t seen many humans, but she figured him to be more a man than a boy.  She opened her mouth, pretending she was going to speak, but instead went for another strike, this time at his knee.

  He caught this one too, and pulled her staff away.  He gave her an irritated look, like the ones mother’s gave their children in the market.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  She huffed and took a few steps back from him.  Her eyes scanned her home for any sort of weapon.  He noticed her looking and sighed.  

  “You won’t be able to get any sort of hit on me, so you might as well just tell me your name.”  He rolled his eyes, but a small smile was tugging at his lips.

  Rey crossed her arms.  “Tell me why you’re in  _ my  _ home first.”

  “This is your  _ home _ ?  Kid, this is a scrapyard.”  He sounded shocked.  She suddenly felt embarrassed.  There were finer things in the galaxy, and it was clear from his clean clothes and fluffy hair that he had them.  She felt like a dirt-covered worm.

  “There’s no need to be rude,” she mumbled, ignoring the tears in her eyes.  “And my name is Rey.  Not  _ ‘kid.’ _ ”  She stared at his shoes.  They were clean too, much cleaner than her holey, dirty, too-big boots.

  He slowly crouched and got on a knee so they were eye-level.  

  “My name is Ben.”  He gave her a kind half-smile.  She knew she should be scared of this man.  She knew she should be wary of any man, especially one as big and fast as this one.

  But he made her feel...safe.  The gut feeling that often guided her told her he was to be trusted.  She reached out and grabbed the crystal hanging from his neck.  It seemed to vibrate in her hand—it almost gave her the same sensation as when she accidentally touched a live wire, but without the pain.

  “That’s a  kyber  crystal,” he explained.  He took the leather band over his head so she could see it better.  “Jedi use them to make lightsabers.”

  Her eyes widened at the mention of the mythical Jedi Knights.  

  “Are you a Jedi?” she asked in awe.

  “Something like that.  Do you know what Jedi use these for?”

  She shook her head.  The crystal in her fist seemed to be pulsing now, as if it had a heartbeat.

  “They’re used to make lightsabers.”  She gasped a little.  He grinned.  “We go to a special place and pick them out.  This isn’t mine, though.”

  She frowned.  “Who’s is it?”

  “When I went to get mine, this one called out to me too.  But I knew it wasn’t for me—I knew I was saving it for someone.  Rey, I think it might be yours.”

  “It is,” she said immediately.  She closed her fist around it, knowing with all certainty that it   _ was  _ hers.  

  “Can you tell me where you are?”  

  She looked up from the crystal.  Her heart started to beat faster again.  He was going to come and get her off Jakku.  But her family... She couldn’t leave them.

  With a horrible sadness she didn’t quite understand, she handed him the crystal again.  His brow furrowed.  She wiped under her eyes at tears that hadn’t fallen yet.  She shook her head, unable to speak.

  “Why not?  I’ll come get you and bring you to the Jedi Academy.”  

  “Because my family is waiting,” she mumbled, dragging a boot across the sandy floor.  She stared at the floor again.  She couldn’t look at him anymore.

   “Rey...” he started.  Then suddenly the room felt empty.  She looked up and saw he had  disappeared .  

_ Good _ , she thought, though she as empty as the AT-AT.  She went back outside and laid on the blanket.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey meet in person. Neither one makes it easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates, updates, updates.

  Ben woke with a start.  He sat up, and then immediately ran to his star map.  He  _ felt  _ her coordinates, and typed them in before the feeling faded.  

  And there it was.  A tiny little junkyard planet called  Jakku .  He got dressed  and went to where his uncle kept the ships.  Unsurprisingly, Luke was already there.

  “ I...”  Ben trailed off.  He didn’t know what to say or even how to say it.  But Luke simply raised a hand.

  “This is what you need to do?”

  Ben nodded.  “Please.  I have to go.”

  His uncle sighed, and moved so that he had access to the ships.  He stared at him, a little stunned.

  “Well?  Go,” Luke said with a wave of his hand.  Ben was overcome with a strange urge, and he hugged his uncle, who seemed unsure what do at first.  Then Ben was gone, in a ship and going to Rey.

  This planet was desolate and barren.  How a child survived here was beyond him.  Why her parents would leave her there...he couldn’t even fathom it.

  He landed the ship as safely as possible in such treacherous terrain and got out.  He immediately felt like he was being cooked alive, but simply raised his hood and started walking.  He let the Force guide him through dunes and past the remains of the Empire.  His grandfather’s legacy, he supposed—decayed metal from a time many couldn’t forget.

  Sweating and tired, he finally came to a fallen AT-AT.  And there, wandering into the belly of it, was a small form.  A little girl.  He’d guessed her age to be somewhere around eight, but now, in a physical space with her Force signature, found himself thinking she was nearer to ten, though still shockingly small for such an age.  The horrible thought that it was malnutrition occurred to him, and he felt his blood boil.

  How could anyone abandon their child like this?  On a horrible planet with no one to protect her?  He stomped toward the AT-AT, determined to get her to the Academy if he had to haul this child over his shoulder and carry her the whole way.

  But when he glanced in, no one was there.  He frowned.

  And then he heard the soft sounds of fabric sliding across metal, and he looked up just in time to see a small, rabid-looking child launching herself at him.  He stepped back, just managing to catch her staff in his hand.  

  She let out a wild scream as she yanked it out of his grip, spun, and tried to bring it across his stomach.  But Ben was  bigger  and better-trained.  Despite how good of a fighter she already was, it was really no match, with or without the Force.

  He caught the staff in both hands and pulled hard enough to shake her off.  She gasped and stumbled backwards.  Before she could go for another weapon, Ben took his hood off.  She froze.

  “You’re real,” she mumbled, though she didn’t seem pleased about it.

  “I am,” he said with a shrug.

  “But...”  She moved back until she hit the shell of the AT-AT and couldn’t go any farther.  

  “I’m here to take you with me.”

  Her eyes hardened.  She crossed her arms.  “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Ben grit his teeth.  “Yes, you are.  The ship is waiting.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “ _ I’m not _  arguing with a child.  This doesn’t have to be difficult, but you’ll be on that ship with me, either the hard way or the easy way.  Which is it?”

  “I’d like to see you try!”  She stomped her foot.

  He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.  Then he closed his eyes.  He could sense curiosity blooming underneath her anger and fear.  

  He still had her staff, so he held his palms flat and let the staff sit there.  It was a simple thing to make it raise up into the air, but she still gasped.  If the power he could feel lurking in her was any indication, he knew she’d be able to quickly do so much more than this with training.

  “S-so what?  That doesn’t mean you can make me go.”  

  He opened his eyes.  Anger, quick and hot, flooded him.  He sent the staff flying so hard that it stuck in the leg of the AT-AT.  Rey’s mouth fell open.  He clamped down on his anger, his weakness.  He didn’t need to lose control like that, not in front of her.  Her eyes were wide and a bit scared as she looked him up and down.  He knelt in front of her, hands up in peace. 

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

  “Promise?” she whispered.

  “I promise.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying?  Grown-ups lie all the time.”

  He almost grinned.  He knew very well how grown-ups lied.  “Yeah, they do.  But I'm not.  Does that feeling in your gut say you can trust me?”

  “How do you know about that?”

  “Because that’s the Force.  It’s everywhere all the time, and it’s like it’s always talking to us.  Some of us are better at listening, and that’s why we become Jedi,” he explained gently.  The anger inside him was already spent and gone, replaced by a strange calm he’d rarely known.

  She shifted uncomfortably.  He wondered if she thought she was the only one who felt the Force, if she now felt like she wasn’t special.  But he knew she was special.  He held his palms out flat in front of her.  

  “Will you let me show you something?  It won’t hurt, and it’s not a trick.”

  He saw the war in her eyes.  But  finally  she laid her hands on top of his.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  He told her to do the same.

  “Do you feel that?” he asked.

  She gasped.  “Yes.”

  He’d connected their Force signatures, and was amplifying her powers so that she felt every life force, every rock, every grain of sand for miles and miles.  Flashes of a life that weren’t his broke through his mental shield.

  He opened his eyes, stunned at the depth of power he felt in her.  She had an almost limitless amount, a raw strength that matched his own.  He’d never met anyone with such ability.  She had her eyes closed and was grinning.

  “Rey,” he said softly, “will you come with me?”

  She slowly opened her eyes.  “But m-my parents...”

  He’d seen them in her memories.  And he knew what she wasn’t willing to admit.

  “They aren’t coming back, and you know it.”  His tone wasn’t cruel, only clinical.  She still flinched, and her eyes became glassy.  She yanked her hands away and wiped under her eyes at tears that hadn’t yet fallen.

  He still had his hands outstretched.  “Please.  Come with me.”

  Then he sensed her anger, her absolute heartbreak over the truth, and he couldn’t move fast enough.  He was still kneeling when she took off into the desert, quick as a flash.  He groaned.

  The hard way then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My tumblr is starbound-wanderer, if you wanna talk :)


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not 100% happy with this, so I might come back and edit later.  
> upped the chapter count!

 Rey ran away from the strange man, from his harsh truths and empty promises. 

  She kept going until she came across a fallen ship.   Someone had left their rope dangling from the side, so she jumped in and slid down on it.   

  The sound of her feet hitting the metal as she went down echoed loudly.  He had been lying.  Her parents would come back. 

  Her feet found a solid platform protruding from the wall, and she sat down on it.  Her legs dangled over a precariously high drop, but it didn’t bother her.  She wiped the tears out from under her eyes.  Light came through the pock-marked side of the ship and the gaping hole near the top where she’d come in.  She heard the desert kicked up sand against the ship.  It was a comforting sound, more a parent to her than her actual parents, though she’d never let herself think that. 

  “Ow!  Damn it!” she heard from above her.  She looked up, eyes wide, and sighed as she crossed her arms. 

  The boy was coming down after her.  He was too big and unused to doing such things, so he was loud and kept hitting his knees against the hard metal. 

  “Go away!” she yelled. 

  “No.  I need to take you back with me!” 

  Her heart picked up its pace.  She wasn’t sure what she was feeling, only that it was overwhelming and had tears filling her eyes again. 

  “I’m not going anywhere!” 

  She heard him drop the last few feet.  It sounded like he landed on his feet, but she refused to look back. 

  “Kid—” 

  “Rey!” she yelled as she stood and turned to face him.  “My name is Rey!” 

  He held his hands up in surrender.  Slowly, he lowered himself so he was sitting cross-legged.  

  “Rey.  Okay.  Rey, I'm sorry.” 

  “What?”  No one apologized on Jakku and meant it. 

  “I’m sorry,” he repeated.  “I shouldn’t have said that.” 

  “It’s not true.  They’ll be back, and I just have to wait.” 

  He said nothing, only ducked his head and brought his hands into his lap.   

  “They’re coming!” she insisted. 

  Ben said nothing, which only made her angry.  She had a sudden urge to hit him. 

  But as she raised her hand to do so, he gently caught it.  He put their palms together.  She was struck by how their hands were so similar yet so different.  Same number of fingers, same shape, but hers were so small.  He wrapped his fingers around hers and shook it with a teasing grin. 

  “You’re so small.  How’d you make it without a sarlacc eating you alive?” 

  “Sarlaccs aren’t real,” she grumbled.  She wanted to yank to her hand away, but it was...nice to have someone hold her hand like that. 

  “Yes they are.  My uncle Luke almost got eaten by one.” 

  “You’re lying.” 

  He shook his head, dark hair falling in his eyes.  “Nope.  Jabba the Hut tried to kill him by feeding him to one.” 

  This story rang a bell in her head.  Her brow furrowed, and she decided it might be worthwhile to sit. 

  “Luke...Luke Skywalker?” 

  “Yep, ki—Rey.  That’s my uncle.” 

  She grabbed his hand between her two and focused on it rather than Ben’s face. 

  “So your mom is Princess Leia?” 

  “And my dad is Han Solo.  The smuggler.” 

  Her head snapped up.  Of course she’d heard of Han Solo.  Everyone on Jakku knew the legendary conman.  Ben smiled at her enthusiasm. 

  “Wait,” she began slowly, “if your mom is a princess, then you’re a prince.” 

  She looked him up and down.  He was tall and lanky and had big ears.  She imagined him with a crown on top of his head and laughed. 

  “I would be if my mom’s planet still existed.” 

  “What happened to it?” 

  “My grandfather, her father, destroyed it.  He’s the reason all these ships are here, actually.” 

  Rey’s eyes went wide.  She scooted a little closer to Ben as a chill went through her.   

  “But...the man who did all this was...” 

  “Darth Vader,” Ben said quietly.  “Anakin Skywalker.  My grandfather.  He did a lot of bad things.” 

  “I-I know.  People tell stories about him around the bonfires.  He was a bad man.” 

  “He was a lost man.  He was tricked by an evil man.  It doesn’t make what he did okay, but at least it’s a reason.” 

  Rey looked back at Ben’s hand, which was still in her grasp.  Her throat was tight as she asked, “Can people do bad things and still be good people?” 

  “I think so.” 

  “Can they leave and still be good people?” 

  “You can leave and be good.” 

  Tears started falling again.  Her heart ached and her stomach hurt.  She let Ben’s hand drop. 

  “They’re not coming back,” she whispered.  “They left me.  But you...you came back for me.  After a dream.” 

  “I’ll always come back for you, Rey.” 

  She wiped her tears away and stood.  She began climbing the rope without saying anything.  She and Ben walked to her home, where she gathered her few belongings.  She took the older boy’s hand in hers. 

  “Let’s go,” she said, shaking his hand. 

  She tried to not let him see how her hands shook and eyes watered as they left Jakku.  

  He pretended not to notice. 


End file.
